Red Carpet

Ok before I start into my post, I must congratulate my wife Jenny. She just completed the Chicago triathlon. By completed I mean she WON THE ENTIRE THING, finishing 19th overall men included! This race had 8700 racers! The Pros raced a different course and she would have placed 11th if you used her time. Way to go Jenny! I wish I could have been there to watch you.


Alright I have had a few comments and emails now about the food over here. Well pretty much everything is fresh produce, that ends up getting stewed in a single pot over a kerosene camp stove. Pretty much every evening we have Ugali with our meals. Ugali consists of maize flour mixed with water, and heated until it firms up into a steaming loaf. It's pretty bland, but you are supposed to just grab at it with your hands and then cover whatever the main entree is with it then eat. Utensils have been sparing, and most meals are eaten with our hands, make that just your right hand. Culturally the left hand is taboo, used for other unscrupulous tasks mainly. I don't eat that much meat, and when I do it is goat. Thankfully I bear no strong ties to any goats back home. The meat isn't bad, but I struggle with the bones all over the place. The butcher pretty much indiscriminately hacks at a huge hunk of meat with an axe, regardless of bone-meat location.

Now to the red carpet treatment. Last night I got to tour a dairy cooling plant, down the road from my house. All because I am the town white guy! They were all fired up to teach me how the farmers bring the milk and it is chilled and then the cans are returned to the farmers. It was actually pretty cool process to check out. We scored a jug of clean water and a tea kettle of free milk from one of the silos too. That's right I have made some huge connections.
Every time I go over to someones house for tea or a meal, that bend over backwards. The hospitality is unreal, and I am blown away every time. Well I got to eat special ugali and porridge from a different type of darker flour. Not too shabby actually. Everyone I meet has been saying I need to try Soh milk, a Kalenjin traditional milk. It is boiled (I hope) and then put into a gourd for up to one year. It is usually only brought out for special occasions or guests. Well I had my first taste the other day. When asked my opinion, after waiting for the room to stop spinning, I replied, "It's interesting". I didn't have to heart to mention the presence of chunks would lead to believe the shelf life inside the gourd, might be significantly less than one year. Maybe in the one week time frame. I grimaced enough to bring my glass below the halfway mark, and hoped no one would stare. I didn't die later on, which I view as a huge positive.

Also have been asked about the plumbing situation. There are 8 units of living quarters, broken into 2 buildings where I live. There are plumbing fixtures but just for laughs. There is a big water tank near the latrines that people use to fill up. Anything plumbing wise is done manual style. When I say shower, I mean boil some water, cool it off, then go into a 3x4 room with a hole in the wall to the outside. I then splash that water on myself until I figure I am cleaner than I started. Bathrooms, there are two options, public vs. private. We share access to a private latrine with one other unit, kept under lock and key. Inside there you would find a toilet that has been covered with concrete just showing the operational end. Once again, manual is the word, you take a bucket to dismiss your work. The public is a fly infested hole, that bears use only when you are urgent, or far too lazy to get the key to the private one. Oh yeah I bought toilet paper (worried I wouldn't find it), looking silly after stealing handfuls at the airports on my arriving flights.

Training:
I think I am rounding the bend of adjusting to the altitude. I am still obscenely tired after training but I am holding up better during each run. I have also shaken all but the last bits of my cold, that emerge 30 min mid run in hacking form.
This morning I ran 1:23 for I don't know how many km. Every time I ask how far I have gone I get an guesstimate answer that seems completely made up on the spot. So I am just tracking my training by time for now. I will start hills and fartlek (ex. 2 min hard-1 min easy for 30 min) workouts this week.

Hope all is well, and I really like all the posts from everyone.